Lily, daughter of Hermes
by Tuesday13
Summary: Lily Ryder, a new daughter of Hermes, arrives at camp. She's chosen to visit Olympus, along with other 8 fellow demigods, to help with the Midsummer Festival preparations. How's that going to go, with a kleptomaniac prankster messing around?
1. A new one

**A/N: So...this is my first fanfic. Constructive criticism apreciated. The story's set after TLO, imma try update as soon as possible... Well, hope you guys enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series, Rick Riordan does. Seriously, why else would this site be called _Fanfiction?_**

Chapter 1 – A new one

Travis' POV

I was doing patrol at the boundaries of the camp – a pointless job, if you ask me. Chiron makes each cabin go commando around the boundaries, in case new demigods show up. I mean, why would we stay there and wait for some bloody kids who might as well not show up? Stupid.

But today the other Hermes campers were helping with the 4th of July fireworks and they decided to send poor old Travis for patrol, as a payback for that especially mean prank I've done with Connor last week. But does Connor get mean punishment? No, because he's supposedly younger and innocent, and I, the tyrannical older brother, dragged him into that. Whaaat? The prank was Connor's idea, but of course the little jerk wouldn't admit.

So I was leaning against Thalia's tree, polishing my dagger absentmindedly and thinking about a good afternoon nap. Peleus the dragon was snoring next to me, curled Pretzel style. Everything was nice, quiet and peaceful – if you could ignore Clarisse yelling at some newcomers in the arena – a normal afternoon at Camp Half-Blood.

But suddenly, I heard some far shouts down the hill. Possibly new half-bloods? I decided to grab my dagger and walk down there to have a look. To my surprise, I only made a few steps and I spotted three figures running towards me. The first one was a satyr with a shaggy mop of brown hair, running on his hooves and dragging along a girl and a boy about fourteen. Jack, the satyr, and two new ones.

They were chased by the one and only – the Minotaur.

"Hurry!" Jack gasped, running with the two demigods towards me. "Take them in! I'll slow him down!"

"I'll bring help", I promised, and pushed the two kids up the hill.

I grabbed them by the wrist and ran all the way to the Big House. Chiron was there, along with Leo Valdez, the Hephaestus cabin's head counselor and Clarisse, both of them yelling one at each other.

The horse guy raised a hand, silencing both of them, and focused on us.

"Jack's…out there…Minotaur", I managed to say.

"Already there, Clarisse said, grabbing her spear and getting going. While she was running to the boundaries, she was yelling for other campers to come help, and soon a small army was marching to help Jack.

"So", Chiron said, scanning the two kids. "New demigods?"

"I'm Lily Ryder", the girl introduced herself, offering me an occasion to look better at her.

She had pale skin, full lips curled in a mischievous smile, bright-blue eyes and curly, messy blonde hair. She reminded me of someone familiar, though I couldn't figure out whom. Her companion was a boy about fifteen, Hispanic, with shaggy black hair and tanned skin.

"I'm Justin Vasquez", he said.

"I suppose you already know why you're here", Chiron asked.

"Yes", Justin said. "Jack told us on the way here. Probably the smell attracted the Minotaur".

He began fiddling nervously with some pieces of metal and wires.

"Jack will be ok, some campers went to help", Chiron said soothingly.

"Now, none of you know who your immortal parent is, right?"

They began shaking their heads, but Leo, who had been very quiet until then, pointed somewhere above their heads. Flaming holograms were floating above their heads. They were being claimed.

Above Justin's head was floating a fiery hammer – he was a son of Hephaestus. And above Lily's head was floating a flaming winged caduceus – a daughter of Hermes.

"What's this?" Lily demanded. "What does this mean?"

"It means, young one", Chiron explained, "You are a daughter of Hermes and your friend here, a son of Hephaestus".

Leo took Justin over to explain him the stuff. Before Chiron could say something else, I grabbed my little sister to show her the place.

"I'm Travis Stoll", I introduced myself. "Son of Hermes. Welcome to the gang. Here's our place – cabin eleven".

I noticed Lily was peeking at my wrist watch.

"Don't even dare to think about it", I warned her. Lily didn't even bother to apologize, but she smiled cockily.

"Like it's yours", she sneered. "Where did you get that? It looks expensive".

As a Hermes' kid, Lily had a nose for expensive stuff and an eye for shiny things. I liked her immediately. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and told her:

"Some random Aphrodite camper. I have to take you there some day; it's the best place for a raid. I mean, you have to see the amount of jewelry and shiny stuff".

Her eyes gleamed.

"Let's find you a bunk", I said, looking around. No, that's mine, that's Connor's, that's Chris', that's Terry's…oh, no, that's Bailey's. Oh, there. A free bunk next to mine.

"Here, you can sleep over there".

Lily seemed rather impressed. She let her bag fall on the said bunk and looked around. Our cabin is small and, until now, it was awfully crowded with unclaimed kids. Right now, it's a lot more room for our stolen flat screen TV, for the Wii and Xbox consoles and for the music system. It's nothing special about our cabin – we don't have clothes all over like the Aphrodite kids, or weapons on the walls like the Ares kids. But we have our stolen things and a giant trunk full of pranks-related stuff like flashlights, matches, spray-paint, string, purple hair-dye and tons of such things.

"Yo, Travis!" I heard Connor calling me. He stormed in the cabin, then noticed Lily. "Yo, new girl".

"Connor, don't be an idiot. This is Lily. Lily, this is my forever single brother Connor".

Lily grinned and fist-bumped Connor.

"Hey, have you told her about the Rite of Hermes?"

"What's that?" Lily asked, her blue eyes shining at the thought of challenge. Oh, crap. Seeing what a cool kid Lily was, I was intending to "forget" about the rite. But no, Connor had to come and ruin everything.

"So you'll become a full-right member of the Hermes cabin, you have to pull a prank on anyone in the camp, using your own material and without getting caught", Connor explained.

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"That's all? Cool, see you later".

She grabbed her bag and left without any other word.

"Connor?" I said, trying to hold my temper.

"Yeah?" he asked, smiling like an idiot.

"You're the most idiotic thing I've ever seen", I said through gritted teeth, opening the door, ready to go out and look for Lily.

"Why, what have I done?" he wanted to know.

"I'm denying you as a brother. From now on, Lily's my full sister and you're just some random idiot who awkwardly has the same last name like me".

"I don't know what's wrong with you, but I agree with that. I'm sick with your bossy attitude. Always, Connor, give me that, Connor do that, Connor, Connor, Connor".

"Lily is just so cool, and you're getting her in trouble from the first day!" I yelled, defending her.

"Oh, c'mon. Chris made us pass the rite in our first day here, too, remember? It's a tradition. If she's good enough, she won't get into trouble".

"Whatever", I mumbled. "Let's go see what she's up to".

Terry, Bailey and Chris were already there, with Clarisse, Justin Vasquez and Leo Valdez, staring in awe at Lily, who was sitting under a tree, rumbling in her bag.

"What's she doing?" I asked.

Terry noticed us – he's thirteen, brown-haired and blue-eyed just like any other Hermes kid and really cool to hang out with. I guess coolness runs in the family.

"She plans on pulling a prank on Chiron", he whispered with respect.

No newcomer, ever, pulled a successful prank on Chiron since Connor and I arrived at camp. Lily took out of her bag three boxes of hair-dye – pale blue, soft pink and bright pink, a few Barbie tattoos, pink ribbons and sleeping powder. Oh, not even I could think of something better. My Little Pony style prank, delivered to Chiron.


	2. Ultimate prankster

Chapter 2 – Ultimate prankster

Lily's POV

As soon as Travis' brother – my brother - challenged me, I knew that was the perfect chance to earn my rep in front of my siblings. I've been living on the streets, fending for myself for the past years, so a small prank was easy peasy. I'll show these jokers the ultimate prankster that I am.

The idea of the My Little Pony prank came into my evil mind right after I first saw Chiron. I wasn't scared at all – that's one good thing at Hermes' kids, we have the bravery of Ares himself when it comes to practical jokes. Messing up with a three millennia old half-horse guy? Phh, I can do that every day. So I opened my bag and looked for material.

My bag is special. It's a gift from my father, Hermes, and it provides me as much pranks material I need – something similar with Dora the Explorer's backpack, you got it? So I just had to open it and I found in there the hair-dye, the tattoos and the ribbons.

I waited patiently (or as patiently as possible for a demigod with ADHD) until Chiron got into his room in the Big House and lain down on the low, large, horse bed. He fell asleep, snoring, in no time, thanks to the strong sedatives I used. He'll be fine, of course, the sleeping powders were harmless.

That was when I got to work. I sprayed some special water-free shampoo in his tail so it would become fluffy, dyed it pink and braided it with bright-pink ribbons. His stallion half was bright white, so he kind of looked like Pinkie Pie. I tattooed his back with pink, sparkly butterflies.

I didn't dare to apply him a sparkly pink eye-shadow and lipstick, but it was still perfect. I rummaged in my bag and took out two pink fake Pegasus wings and glued them at his sides. When I stepped back to take a look at my handiwork, I brushed a fake tear off my cheek. It was perfect!

Well, it was time to get going. I jumped out of the window, on the trampoline I had set earlier. I landed safely and I was back in the cabin in no time. I had worn chirurgical gloves, I made sure not to leave the tiniest track. That stupid rite was already passed.

I was sure I had my giant self-satisfied grin on when in came back in the Hermes cabin. Five pairs of eyes (Travis, Connor, Chris, Terry and Bailey) looked at me in awe, as if they were surprised I was still alive.

"You made it?" Bailey asked. Bailey is twelve, with pale blonde hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes.

"Of course I made it", I said.

And I began unpacking as if nothing has happened.

Minutes later, some random girl I didn't know stormed in. She put her hands on her knees, breathing hard.

"Hey, Silena, what's wrong?" Travis asked the girl. She was wearing a Dior dress and high-heels, and she had a flawless make up on. Bing, bing – Aphrodite kid.

"Chiron wants to see you all…" she stopped to giggle. "I don't know which one of you did that, but it's so cute!"

We all frowned. That wasn't cute, that was a plot worthy of an evil mastermind.

"None of you did…whatever you're talking about!" I snapped defiantly.

"The new girl, right? Lily…"

"Ryder", I stretched my hand so she could shake it, glad that she abandoned the topic of the prank. "Lily Ryder. And you…?"

"Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite", she introduced herself, her perfect glossy-red lips curling in a friendly smile.

The Barbie girl left, not before adding:

"You should hurry up, Chiron's angry".

We all looked at each other.

"Try not to laugh", Chris, the eldest, suggested.

Chiron and the insufferable Mr. D made us stand in a row, army style. I noticed somehow Chiron hadn't managed to wipe the tattoos and the hair-dye away, so all of my siblings were trying hard not to laugh their ass off. I tried to hide my pride. I won't get caught; I never get.

"Now, which one of you, little punks, did that?" Mr. D asked.

"None of us", Connor sneered. "Why did it have to be one of us?"

"Because you're a bunch of Hermes' troublemakers!" Mr. D said through gritted teeth.

"And, if none of you admits it, you'll do kitchen service for the whole rest of the summer", Chiron added, calmly.

We looked at each other, troubled. That wasn't in the plan. I mean, it was so awfully _not right, _I couldn't let the others get in trouble because of me. I might me a selfish jerk, but these guys were the only family I'd had lately and I didn't want to screw things up again.

"I did it", I found myself saying. Chiron looked at me in disbelief.

"You did it, young one?"

I nodded eagerly, aware of all those pair of eyes staring at me. I was beaming with pride.

"Yeah. Cool, isn't it?"

"No, it's _not at all _cool!" Mr. D snapped, and I made a step back. "That's why you, Millie Stryder, are going to pay for this for the rest of the summer".

My jaw dropped. I thought that, after I'll admit, Chiron will magically forgive me.

"Lily Ryder. My name is Lily Ryder", I managed to say, through gritted teeth.

"Well, it won't matter in the kitchens, isn't it?" Mr. D asked mockingly.

I was at loss of words. Mr. D dismissed us with a wave of his hand. Oh, how I hate this guy, you can't imagine.

I turned around and left, feeling miserably. It was my first day at camp Heck and I was already in trouble. And I hate washing dishes.

"Yo, Lily! Wait up!" I heard Travis and Connor yell, running after me.

I stopped, allowing them to catch me up.

"That was very cool. Thanks", Travis said, wrapping an arm around me.

"Yeah, we totally owe you one".

"Doesn't matter. Anyway, I screwed up the Initiation", I sighed. That's me. Screwing up everything, always, for everyone I care about.

"Are you kidding?" Connor looked at me surprised. "What do you mean? You passed, if it matters so much for you. Anyone who does something so cool _and _gets us rid of punishment would pass. And so far, nobody's done something like this".

"So cheer up! We can talk Chiron into letting you go without a punishment", Travis encouraged.

"And if it doesn't work, we can come and help you, we all know working in the kitchens sucks", Bailey added.

I began to smile. I didn't actually screw up everything. And everyone in my cabin liked me now. I realized I'd actually earned my rep with this prank. And they were the first ones to see my good kid side, beside the arrogant joker side. Camp Heck was getting cool.


	3. Going to Olympus

Chapter 3 – I go to Olympus

"Listen! Listen, everybody!" Chiron hit his glass with his fork until everyone in the mess hall was quiet. "I wanted you to know that the gods have demanded 9 demigods to go visit Olympus, and help with the preparations for the Midsummer festival".

It's been a week since my arrival at camp. Chiron was no longer mad at me, because Connor talked an Aphrodite girl into charmspeaking him. Not nice, but I was no longer punished. I stopped digging in as I heard the news, put the fork down and chuckled.

"So practically, the gods need some servants they don't have to pay", I whispered to Travis and Connor. They both snickered.

"So", Chiron spoke further, "The chosen ones are: Clarisse La Rue, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Travis and Connor Stoll, Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace and Lily Ryder".

"I'm going to Olympus!" I exclaimed in awe, as if I was just told I'd won the lottery.

"Yeah, to serve the gods"! Connor yelled.

"That's not cool", I said, frowning.

"Oh, it is. You'll see, Olympus is awesome. And besides, you'll get to meet dad", Travis said.

We all got ready and Clarisse settled herself in the pilot seat of the van.

"Why does Clarisse drive?" Nico asked.

"Because I'm the only one with a license".

"I have one too!" Travis yelled from the back seat. I took this as an advantage and quickly occupied the copilot seat.

"Yeah, a stolen one", Connor laughed, and Travis elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to punch his arm. That led to a massive fight.

"Don't make me turn around to you!" Clarisse warned.

"He started!" they both complained.

"I don't care who started, I'm gonna finish!"

That silenced them both.

Nico, Annabeth, Percy, Leo and Thalia crowded on the back seats of the camp van.

"Why does Lily stay in the copilot seat?" Leo whined suddenly.

"Because she's the nicest here!" Clarisse shut him down.

"Oh, thanks", I beamed with pride.

"Here it is. Floor 600", Nico said, a while later, as the elevator's doors opened to reveal the awesomeness of Olympus.


	4. I meet some gods

**A/N: This chapter turned out to be so much longer than I've expected - the longest so far. It's pretty random also. I still have to think about some good pranks Lily and the Stolls should pull, ans she hasn't met Hermes yet...this was just some kind of introduction to the actual action in Olympus. Anyways, enjoy. **

Chapter 4 – I meet some gods

Lily's POV

I must say, I felt kind of…let's say, weird, after the ride to Empire State Building. I suspect that's because of Clarisse's driving skills. I mean, Clarisse behind the wheel is even _worse _than Clarisse with a sword/bow and arrow/axe/spear. And I only know Clarisse for a week or so.

_*FLASHBACK*_

"_Gods, slow down! Slow down! You were about to kick that Porsche! You wanna kill us?" Annabeth shrieked after she raced down the street with a speed that seemed like 500 miles/hour._

"_Shuddup!" she growled, pulling the wheel with the force of a hurricane. We all raised our arms to protect our faces as Clarisse hit the gas and the old van shot down the street._

"_We're gonna receive a fine!" I complained. Nobody dared to sit in the passenger seat, so we were all crowded on the back seats, eyes closed._

"_Oh, just zip it, Lily! It's all under control", Clarisse said._

"_No it's not", Travis whispered next to me._

_*END OF FLASHBACK*_

But besides, Olympus seemed pretty cool. I mean, white marble and gold, and gardens and loads of people (whatever, gods) carrying flowers, and nectar bottles and ambrosia…there were just _so many _opportunities of pranks that were practically yelling "choose me! Choose me!"

A little girl, perhaps twelve, approached up, carrying a basket full of flowers. She was wearing a silver dress, had auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail and silver eyes.

The other demigods behind me bowed politely before the little girl, who smiled kindly.

"Lady Artemis", Connor greeted, looking at me pointedly. Annabeth kicked my arm warningly and I bowed quickly, feeling like a fool.

"Welcome, demigods", Artemis said. "As you see, your help will be needed here quite a lot. Can you begin helping Demeter with those flower wreathes over there?"

Lady Artemis pointed towards a plump lady in a golden dress, with dark hair braided with wheat. She was climbing a ladder to hang a flower wreathe in an olive tree. I struggled to remember. Of course. Demeter, goddess of agriculture.

"And if you happen to stumble upon my immature brother, can you tell him that by composing _haikus _he doesn't help at all?"

We nodded eagerly and Artemis left with her flower basket. I noticed she had a quiver and a bow on her back. We all nine walked, sort of disappointed, towards the Demeter lady. I guess we were all thinking the same thing (_I thought being invited to Olympus for the Midsummer festival was just an excuse to come have some fun after the past rough months but no, they really meant it_)

"Ah, good, here you are", she said, without turning around. "You, you and you, go help Ares with the flowers Persephone's just sent with a FedEx", she ushered Clarisse, Leo and me. As we left sheepishly, looking all kind of stunned by the warm welcoming, we heard goddess Demeter giving commands to the others.

"Isn't she just nice", Clarisse muttered.

We walked to where a giant truck was parked, tons of lilies, roses and crushed carnations brimming over their wooden boxes. A few of the boxes and a tiny mountain of flowers were scattered on the pavement and a big tough-looking guy wearing shades and a leather jacket was staring at them in helpless disbelief.

"Hey, father", Clarisse greeted, jokingly. "Could you use some help?"

Ok. So…Ares, the god of war, Clarisse's father. Another god to meet in such a little time.

"Yes, dearest", Ares replied sarcastically, with a mocking grin. "Could you pick these up for me and carry them all the way to the throne room?"

Clarisse grinned troubled, but tried to pick up one of the boxes. Clarisse is one of the strongest persons I've met so far; still she couldn't lift the box. She stepped back, eyeing the box with narrowed brown eyes, in astonishment.

"Nope", she said finally.

"What are these made of?" Leo asked, picking up a red carnation. "Steel?"

"Iron", Ares corrected. "We gotta load them in the truck. And drive to the throne room, there's no other way".

"Iron flowers", I said incredulously.

Ares shrugged.

"She's the new one, right? The kid of Hermes".

I nodded, not knowing if I should be scared of him. Clarisse was exactly like him – cool, but slightly frightening. They both lifted up a box and carried it to the truck. Leo and I, being less bulky, began pushing another box with mutant metal flowers. He, being a Hephaestus kid, seemed pretty ok with the metal flowers, but they seemed sort of wrong.

"Go fetch something cold to drink, will you, Lily?" Clarisse pleaded a while later, breathing hard. She wiped the sweat off her forehead before speaking again. "You're the fastest".

"Sure", I agreed. Anyway, carrying impossible weights in the hot sunlight was anything but pleasant. The next thing I had to figure out was where can I find some bloody drinks. Is there a god of Coke to whom I should pray?

Walking down the streets of Olympus and looking for a Slurpee stand when I bumped into someone. I looked up, praying he wasn't another weird god. He was a guy about eighteen, with a bright white smile, blue eyes, golden hair and tanned skin. He seemed to radiate warmth and light.

"Hey. The new girl of Hermes, right"?

Nice to meet you too, whoever you are.

"Um, yeah…how did you know?"

"Apollo, sweetie. God of prophecies. I know pretty much everything".

Ok, a narcissist god of Sun. Even if he seems the type of guy who stares at himself in the mirror thinking _man, how handsome I am, _I can handle him.

"Um, do you know some place where I could find something to drink?" I blurted out randomly. Idiot, idiot. Ladies and gentleman, Lily Ryder, your damned-to-be-forever-single host.

"Oh, sure. This way. Aphrodite has to have some sodas in that fancy house of her. She's not helping with the preparation, because she's too precious for such things, so she's definitely home".

Oh, awesome. More weird gods to meet and it's been only an hour. He walked me to this giant, white marble mansion.

"Over there. Be polite. And if she asks you, you should say you love Chanel make up", Apollo advised and winked at me.

"Seriously? Artemis said composing haikus all day long isn't helping for the Festival".

"Artemis has no idea how difficult is to compose those haikus", Apollo retorted, grinning. "See you around, Hermes' daughter".

"Yeah".

I didn't have time to think about the meeting with Apollo, because suddenly the door opened and the most beautiful woman ever appeared in the doorway. At first it seemed she had dark hair and green eyes, but her form shifted and in the next second she had a long, wavy, reddish-brown hair and bright blue eyes, as if she was adjusting her appearance to match my idea of ideal beauty. Her pearlescent skin was flawless; her full lips were curled in a kind smile. She was wearing a low-cut dark blue dress and a Swarovski crystals necklace around her neck.

"Welcome, Lily", Aphrodite said.

"Uh…ugh…" I managed to say. Very smart, Lily. You proved you have the intelligence of a 2 year old.

It was just, in front of Aphrodite – who was perfect – I felt so inferior. My hair was messy, my skin was too pale, I was too short and skinny, my clothes were just…wrong, and I couldn't even hold a sword…

In front of Aphrodite I began feeling like I felt in front of my stepsiblings, Kyle and Shelley – I was just a kleptomaniac prankster.

"Come in, dear one", she invited me, smiling, amused by the fact I was paralyzed in the doorway.

I followed her, still groggy. How is possible for someone to be _so _perfect? Still, the whole situation was so cliché. It reminded me about a '70s show, where the perfect mother welcomes in her perfect children and their friends for lemonade and cookies. Perfect hair, perfect eyes…still, do you know how people say perfection is boring? Well, _on her _it wasn't boring at all.

"Are you thirsty?" she made me sit on a pink velvet couch and a glass full of pink something appeared with a poof on the pink glass table in front of me.

Usually, I would've been annoyed by the pinkness, but now it was comfy. I took a sip of the pink beverage. It was great, like strawberry ice-tea mixed with chocolate, and caramel, and cookies, and whipped cream, and a lot of other good things.

"I'll get some ready for your friends too", she promised. "By the way, I _love_ your hair, sweetheart".

I flinched, trying to detect the sarcasm, but there was nothing. She just tried to be nice. I glanced at the nearest mirror – a giant monstrosity the size of a wall in a heavy gold frame, and noticed my hair was flowing on my shoulder in delicate curls, gleaming like gold.

My hair was _not _like that when I left the camp. It was pulled back in a messy ponytail, hardly brushed because we were out of time.

"Um…"

"You're most certainly an adorable girl", Aphrodite continued, and I blushed deeply. "I must say, one could mistake you for one of my children".

Usually, such a discrete pep talk would've made my usual tomboyish prankster self feel like an idiot because I _needed _a pep talk, but now I felt sort of encouraged. I guess the goddess sensed that as well, because she was beaming with pride when she brought me several bottles full of pink juice.

"You should leave now, I'm sure the others are waiting for you".

I got up, grabbed the bottles and walked towards the grand mahogany door. I felt sort of dizzy, because of the strong scent of expensive perfume and the pinkness.

"Visit me whenever you want, dearest", Aphrodite added, a sweet smile on her lips.

I nodded and walked back to the truck, where Clarisse, Leo and Ares were loading in the last box of Persephone's iron flowers.

"You were real fast, weren't you?" Clarisse asked sarcastically. I tossed her one of the bottles and she drank greedily.

"Anyway, nice way to absent yourself from the hard work, Goldilocks", Ares noticed.

"Thanks", I muttered.

Goldilocks?

Yeah, whatever. I won't argue with the god of war. He likes calling me Goldilocks, then let it be. Unfortunately, judging after Clarisse's smirk, by next week the whole Ares cabin will call me Goldilocks.

Ares got on the pilot's seat (I hoped he drives better than his daughter) and we crowded on the seats next to him. He drove all the way to the Throne Chamber (and yes, he drove just as bad as Clarisse) and we got out, carrying the flowers' boxes, ready to meet the rest of the Olympians.


	5. My dad, Hermes

**A/N: Ok, so this is a very short chapter, still it was very fun to write. Enjoy :)**

Chapter 5 – My dad, Hermes

Lily's POV

I expected all the twelve Olympians (except Ares) wait for us in the magnificence of the Throne Room, all sitting on gold thrones, wearing Ancient Greek outfits and golden laurels in their hair, just like in movies.

You've got no friggin idea how different the reality was.

There were twelve thrones, but only one was made of gold. Another was a fisherman's chair, another was made by woven grape vines, another was metallic (probably Ares'); all were different, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood.

Artemis was climbing on a silver throne, trying to hang a flower wreathe on the wall, helped by Apollo, though he was mostly arguing and hardly even helping. I noticed Nico di Angelo, Annabeth and a woman with wise, grey eyes – Athena, probably – trying to place a statue of a Cornucopia on a pedestal and Demeter dusting the thrones. I couldn't see Travis and Connor anywhere, probably somebody'd sent them to steal…pardon, find something.

A man in his early thirties was sitting at a small table next to the hearth, a little girl in brown robes at his feet, scattering the embers with a stick. The man had salt-and-pepper hair and was writing something, an expression of concentration on his face.

"You two over there, quiet! These invitations don't write themselves!" the man yelled to Apollo and Artemis, raising his head. I noticed he had sparkly blue eyes and familiar elfish features. A caduceus with two snakes wrapped around it was underpinned at the table. Hermes.

I let Ares, Clarisse and Leo deliver the flowers and help the twins hang them around and I walked to Hermes. Noticing the little girl, who probably was Lady Hestia, I bowed before her, she grinned and left, allowing me some time with my father.

Ok, this is gonna be weird, especially because I'm not so good with the respect and politeness things and I find it weird to _kneel _before my father, even though he's a god. So I just sat next to his table.

"Um…sir?" I tried. _Sir _was good, it was polite enough.

He raised his head and a smile enlightened his face when he saw me.

"Yes, Lily, dear! No need for "sir" things. Welcome. You've grown since I've last seen you. Can you help me with these things? They're just, pissing me off. Everyone thinks that, if I'm the messenger god, I should be writing all the invitations for the Festival".

He snorted. I nodded and he made me room next to him, another chair suddenly appearing at the table. He handed me some invitations and a pen.

_Humph. No respect for snakes. Why would she say hello to someone as unimportant as us? I'll make sure your internet connection will drop next time when you need it, _a sudden voice hissed.

_Don't be rude, George! The dear girl had no idea, _another voice chastised.

I looked around, in surprise. Hermes laughed.

"Quiet, you two. Lily, these are George and Martha".

I glared at my father, puzzled.

"The, um…snakes?"

Hermes laughed again.

"Yes, kid, the snakes. You know what, don't mind those invitations. Just pack these ones. Connor and Travis will be here in no time to deliver them. Now tell me, how's Morgan doing?"

He looked me in the eyes when he asked, seriously, even if his tone was conversational. I looked away, blushing.

Nobody knows about my life short before coming to the camp. I thought Hermes didn't know either, but I could understand from his voice that he knew.

The thing is, my mother is a billionaire – she's freaking rich. I wasn't getting along with her very well, always things like _Stealing is wrong, you got that from your father, why can't you just be a nice kid and focus on school _and such things. When she got married, things got worse. Eric was a cool guy, but his kids, Kyle and Shelley – they were _perfect. _Great grades, amazing manners, no ADHD or dyslexia. I was the kleptomaniac troublemaker, and I wasn't matching their perfect family. Especially when the monsters began attacking.

So I ran away, and met this other demigod, Justin, and the satyr Jake. And so I arrived to camp.

"I…haven't seen her in a while", I whispered. "I…don't think she cares if I'm ok anyway".

"She cares, kiddo", Hermes said. "She knows you're safe at camp, I made sure of that. She just gives you what you want – she knows you wouldn't want to talk to her now".

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but that was when Connor and Travis entered the Throne room, arguing quietly.

"No, you tell him!"

"No, you tell him, you're the oldest!"

I exchanged a short, amused glance with Hermes.

"But you owe me".

"Styx!" Connor swore quietly, and then spoke louder, to us. "Um…hey, Dad. Yo, Lily. You met dad!"

"Yeah".

"Um, Dad, the thing is, we sort of lost a few of the invitations", Connor stuttered.

"Connor!" Hermes complained like a teenager. "It took me centuries to write them! What part exactly from _deliver one invitation to each of the mansions in Olympus _didn't you understand?"

"Well", Travis stepped in. "We figured out a faster way to deliver them. We put on our flying shoes, and we flew above Olympus and emptied those big sacks and they flew all over".

Hermes began banging his head on the table, murmuring "Why, oh why?"

In a second, Connor and Travis were at each side of Dad, patting him encouragingly on the back.

"Hey, cheer up, Dad!"

"Yeah, it's gonna be cool. Lily will help us get all the invitations back and deliver them nicely".

Both Hermes and I were scandalized at that remark. I was about to tell Connor what I thought about his very plan, including some bonus punches with his name on them, but Dad interrupted:

"No, no, no, Connor. You don't understand. Lily _won't _help you. You're gonna go pick each invitation and deliver it to each mansion in Olympus just as you were supposed to, _on your own_, do we understand each other?"

They nodded nervously.

"Good. Now leave".

They were out in an instant. Hermes began snickering and so did I.


	6. Kitchen World War III

**Author note: Why did you let me guys forget about this place? Forgive me for my long absence, pretty please with cherry on top. Chapter 6 and 7 were finished a couple of weeks ago, but my fanfiction account wouldn't work and I couldn't put them up. Anyway, here it is, chapter 6 for you. And for it, I had to use one of the cliche ideas I never thought I would actually use in a story - a food fight. Even though, I think this one turned up pretty epic. Enjoy and leave a review to let me know how much you liked it! - Tuesday13**

Chapter 6 –Kitchen world war III

Lily's POV

"Cook? We have to cook the food for the party?" Nico asked, seeming almost offended by the idea. "But don't you just snap your fingers and it's done?"

Athena shook her head, checking something on her clipboard. "No, no, Nico. It's a tradition that the gods and the demigods cook the food for the Midsummer festival".

We were in a giant kitchen any Michelin cook would cry for and Athena and Annabeth were sharing recipes and quantities of food.

"We should wear aprons", Aphrodite stated. "Otherwise we'll stain out clothes with food".

Suddenly, everyone was wearing kitchen aprons.

"Goodbye, pride", Clarisse sighed as soon as she realized she couldn't take her flowery apron off. "I'll miss you dearly".

"Hey, it's cool, I like mine", Nico said, looking at his black apron with skulls on it.

"I like mine too", Percy added, checking his dark-blue apron.

"You're both so lame", Annabeth shook his head.

"Now, everybody!" Athena reduced us all to silence. "Your team has 2 hundreds chocolate chip cookies and six three-storey cakes to make, so hurry up".

"But I don't know how to cook!" Thalia blurted out.

"You have recipes, now get to work", Athena answered shortly.

Travis, Connor, Hermes, Clarisse, Ares, Thalia, Percy, Poseidon and I made a team. Poseidon was reading the recipe, and so far, I thought we were doing pretty well.

"So, put three eggs in a bowl", Poseidon read. Thalia brought three eggs and put them in the bowl, without breaking them before.

"No, Thalia", Clarisse sighed. "You have to break them first, like this". She smashed the eggs and threw them in the bowl.

"You have to put the egg-shell also?" I dared to ask.

"What do you want me to do, take it out piece by piece now? The cookies will be crunchier like this".

Nobody dared to contradict.

"…OK...Poseidon, read further", Ares said.

"Add flour and brown sugar"

Travis brought a sack of white flour and emptied it in the bowl. Connor poured half a kilo brown sugar on top.

"It's too much flour!" Thalia whined. "They're gonna taste like crap!"

"Gods, who cares!" Clarisse rolled her eyes. "It's just for that stupid tradition anyway!"

"Let's add butter", Connor suggested.

I took a small square of butter and threw it in the sea of sugar, eggs and flour.

"You need to put more", Percy said, throwing the whole piece of butter in the bowl.

"Now whisk", Poseidon ordered.

Ares whisked.

"Now let's improvise a bit", Clarisse suggested.

The Stolls began handing her various bottles of ingredients. Chocolate, ambrosia, cinnamon, nectar, bacon, Cheerios, Cheddar cheese, chocolate, milk, baking soda, sesame and more chocolate. She added all of that in the bowl, while Ares kept whisking.

"That's it, it's perfect", Clarisse said. Thalia reached to try some cookie dough, but Clarisse slapped her hand.

"Don't eat that!"

"Right".

We poured the dough in baking trays and put it in the oven.

"Three trays are done, hundreds more to go", I said smiling contently. "You know, those fancy French dudes on TV make it seem so hard".

"Yeah", Poseidon nodded. "Let's go on, we have lots of work to finish. But let me break the eggs this time".

We finished the cookies in a steady rhythm, each of us having his or her established chore. It was yet somehow awkward. Three gods and six demigods, sitting in a giant godly kitchen in Olympus, wearing flowery aprons and baking cookies.

The part with preparing the dough was Clarisse's, Travis' and Connor's favorite. They gathered a pile of random ingredients on the table and began adding them to the mixture.

"Look, I found coconut!"

"Don't put coconut in there, idiot!"

"Why?"

"Cause I'm allergic to coconut!"

"I don't care, I like coconut! And you ever call me idiot again, I'll ask Clarisse to rearrange your dental work! You'll help me, won't you, Clarisse?" Connor asked, turning to Clarisse and offering her an innocent smile.

"Sure", Clarisse grinned back and poured the coconut flakes in the mixture, to Travis' anger.

One would say they're five years old.

"You know what, then let's add nuts too!"

"I'm allergic to nuts, loser!"

"And you can't imagine the immensity of the Hades I don't give!"

I exchanged a long glance with Ares, Hermes, Poseidon, Percy and Thalia, trying not to laugh.

"Gods, you're fighting over cookies!" I finally tried to break the fight, when Connor and Travis began rolling on the floor, trying to suffocate each other. "Enough! Now"!

But none of them answered to me and I had to step back and jump on the closest counter to avoid being killed by the fistful of peanuts Connor threw at Travis.

Clarisse, who was using a frying pan as a shield, suddenly grabbed a handful of chocolate chips and yelled:

"Food fight!"

And then Hades broke loose. Thalia hit the ground and hid her face with her hands, under the projectile of chocolate chips. Travis broke an egg in Connor's head and Connor stuck his brother's face in the closest sack of flour.

"Hey, Lily!" I heard my father call me.

And I fell for it. I turned around and Ares and Hermes both hit me at the same time with a whipped cream pie, Looney Toons style. As I wiped the cream off my face, they began snickering like little kids.

Ok. Time out. Something about food-fights. One would say they're really cliché. And I guess they are, if you think about it. But this was a food-fight with gods, in a godly kitchen in Olympus, and it threatened to become a third World War. Nobody was having fun around here. It was a life and death situation, where the average chocolate cake could either save your life or destroy you.

"Oh, really? I didn't want to do this but…"

I grabbed the said chocolate cake from a near-by counter and wiped Dad's grin off his face. He cleaned his face with his sleeve and threw a chocolate tart at Artemis, who was passing by with a tray of cookies.

The sticky chocolaty cream stained her silver dress and messed her auburn hair. She turned around, her cheeks red with anger and embarrassment. She threw an especially big cookie at Hermes, and hit his arm. He moaned (I guess we weren't the only ones with no idea how to cook, those cookies were like rocks).

And I suppose you can imagine the chaos that followed as Zeus stepped in the kitchen.


	7. The party

**Final disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, only Lily Ryder and the plot. **

Author note: Chapter seven is here, bringing up to you the GLORIOUS end of the fanfiction "Lily, daughter of Hermes". No need for applause, silent admiration is all I ask for. Anyways, thanks for making time to read my little piece of awesomeness...no, kidding. For real. You're great. Leave a review if you enjoyed it, it really makes one certain author's day. Enjoy. - Tuesday13

Chapter 7 – The Party

Ok. So it's hard to describe how angry Zeus was as two vanilla pies slammed him in the face (thrown by Hermes and Ares) and a dozen of cookie projectiles attacked him (thrown by Artemis). So I won't try. I'll just say, he was very, very, destructively, madly, terribly angry.

Travis, Connor, dad and I managed to sneak out the kitchen before lightings started flying around, but the others weren't as lucky. Right now, I'm in Aphrodite's house, who is trying to give the others a makeover.

"Oh, your poor, beautiful hair", the goddess of beauty sighs stroking Clarisse's hair, which is slightly burned. Clarisse is making faces and gagging sounds, but where Aphrodite touches her hair, it turns back to normal, all fluffy and shiny and blow-dried.

She already took care of most of us, and now we're all looking through the racks of clothes she got us. Good old auntie Aphrodite.

Anyway, the party is finally about to begin. After the kitchen…um, incident, we all sheepishly returned to the Throne room and finished the preparations. Each metal flower is at her place, each vibrant-colored wreathe hangs perfectly in place against the golden walls. Doves courtesy of Aphrodite fly through the air, statues of marble Cornucopias decorate the mahogany table full of delicious food and in a corner there's a large fish tank full of colorful fish, courtesy of Poseidon. My father helped with the decoration too, bringing in a big poker table, full with cards and tokens.

I can't wait. My first Olympian party.

**Twenty minutes later…**

No. This is all wrong. It's not how it was supposed to be.

I expected everybody having fun together, not like that. Travis, Connor and Dad are playing poker in a corner, Ares and Clarisse are playing arm wrestling, Annabeth and Athena are designing some sort of new amazing future building, Nico and Thalia are debating over whether Evanescence or GreenDay is better and Aphrodite is playing dress-up with some nymphs. Apollo and Artemis are playing darts with their bows, arrows and a vampire movieposter, Percy and Poseidon are sitting next to the fish tank, talking, Leo and Hephaestus are playing with their tools and everyone is doing something different.

Noticing me sitting in a corner, Apollo came up to me.

"What's wrong, Lily? Why aren't you kicking your dad's ass at poker? I thought you were good at it".

"I am good at poker, but I'm too angry to play. This is not how it was supposed to be. They're not even paying attention to each other! Look, the Hermes family, the Ares family…I expected all to do something together!"

Apollo hands me a can of Coke and tells me wisely:

"Lily, there's absolutely nothing all the gods could do together, without fighting and enjoying it to the fullest. Each of us is different. That's how it's been for millennias and that's how it's going to be forever. But to me, they all seem pretty happy. Look, Clarisse won the hand wrestling game. And I think Hermes is getting his but whooped by your brothers. You'd better join the game too, I say. You can't do anything to change the gods, nor the demigods. So you should try to enjoy the party".

He stops and looks around, with a satisfied smile, then gets his lyre and a bottle of nectar that resembled amazingly a bottle of beer and left, not before adding:

"I'm going to write a haiku about the Midsummer Festival. It's gonna be a work of art".

"Doubtlessly", I grin and get up to join the poker game.

**Another twenty minutes later…**

"Again, I didn't lose! I deliberately chose not to win!" Hermes exclaimed, raising his hands in exasperation, while Travis and Connor were laughing their asses off.

My poor father, I think he still didn't figure out the two jerks cheated the whole game.


End file.
